Running Question

shirleygirl1013

I just finished my first half marathon yesterday. I have been running less than a year and I ran it in 2:25:12. I am planning on running another in two months. How should I prepare for that one? Do I start another training plan from the beginning? It seems silly to start over with shorter long runs like I did last time. I am still a newbie and am looking for any suggestions

throoper

Awesome sauce! Congrats! I would start partway through your training plan, so your weekly long run would be somewhere between 6 and 8 miles. Depending on where you start, you would repeat a few of the weeks a couple times before moving up to the next week. Make sense? That's what I've always done when I have a few long races within 6-8 weeks of each other.

alexandriamarino

if you want to go faster you may want to incorporate a little speedwork. not sure if you use an app like runkeeper, but think of checking these out: http://runkeeper.com/search/fitness-classes/running/finish-a-race/half-marathon-plans

omma_to_3

I'll be interested to see responses. I've done two HMs. After each one, I backed down on my running as I don't have time to keep up 2+ hour runs on weekends all year round. So, when I start training for another HM, I start with a training program. But not a newbie program. The Runner's World website has an online tool that allows you to put in a recent race time, the date of the race, and it will create a plan for you that includes easy runs, long runs, speed runs, and tempo runs. I did that for my second half, and lopped 20 minutes off my time which I was really happy with. Here's the link:

Bummer, looks like Runner's World now chargers for their tool. Look up some Hal Higdon programs instead.

throoper

Yeah that's also great advice to add some speed work (interval running)! I second Hal Higdon.

shirleygirl1013

Thank you guys so much for your responses. I am going to look for a running plan that starts the long runs around 6-8 miles with maybe a day of speedwork.

goanothermile

shirleygirl1013 wrote: »

I just finished my first half marathon yesterday. I have been running less than a year and I ran it in 2:25:12. I am planning on running another in two months. How should I prepare for that one? Do I start another training plan from the beginning? It seems silly to start over with shorter long runs like I did last time. I am still a newbie and am looking for any suggestions

CONGRATS on finishing your first HM! That is a big accomplishment.

If you feel tired or sore today, I'd suggest taking this week off and just recovering. The benefit of good rest will far outweigh any tiny loss of fitness. Maybe go for some walks to stretch your legs. You can get back into the swing of things next week.

In terms of getting started again, I like Hal Higdon's programs. I've used them (or a modified version) successfully many times.

Take a look at the training calendar. Set the date of your next race at week 12 and back up the number of weeks you have left to train. That's where you start.

halhigdon.com/training/51131/Half-Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program

The one modification I make on the 12 week programs is not to bump the long run mileage up every week. I prefer to drop that long run mileage down a couple of miles every 3rd week. I don't usually have the races scheduled, so I can use those weeks as lower mileage or just insert some extra weeks. My long run mileage might look like 5, 6, 4, 7, 8, 6, 9, 10, 8, etc. Those "recovery" weeks really help me.

One last thing. Doing too many races in a short period can be detrimental. Be careful about burning yourself out. After this second HM, maybe pick some shorter distance races to tackle next.

ElliottTN

I've always just backtracked my initial training schedule for the weeks out of the next one and set more aggressive goals for the key runs. It might seem silly to start at a low number of miles for your long runs again but try shaving off a substantial amount of your pace per mile you'll soon come to realize that sometimes a 5k can be a whole WHOLE lot harder than a half marathon when you are pushing pace.